Monthly Archives: January 2014

Well damn, the world of film news just gets more and more controversial by the day, in another crazy news story from the upcoming Batman vs. Superman film we get some new casting news and it already has the internet in a frenzy. Trust me when I say there is no way I’d miss out on talking about this myself. Anways the following info comes from superherohype:

“Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Jesse Eisenberg has been set to star as Lex Luthor and Jeremy Irons will play Alfred in the upcoming Zack Snyder untitled Superman/Batman film. The dual announcement was made today by Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, and Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Snyder stated, “Lex Luthor is often considered the most notorious of Superman’s rivals, his unsavory reputation preceding him since 1940. What’s great about Lex is that he exists beyond the confines of the stereotypical nefarious villain. He’s a complicated and sophisticated character whose intellect, wealth and prominence position him as one of the few mortals able to challenge the incredible might of Superman. Having Jesse in the role allows us to explore that interesting dynamic, and also take the character in some new and unexpected directions.”

The director added, “As everyone knows, Alfred is Bruce Wayne’s most trusted friend, ally and mentor, a noble guardian and father figure. He is an absolutely critical element in the intricate infrastructure that allows Bruce Wayne to transform himself into Batman. It is an honor to have such an amazingly seasoned and gifted actor as Jeremy taking on the important role of the man who mentors and guides the guarded and nearly impervious façade that encapsulates Bruce Wayne.”

Eisenberg received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award nominations for his starring role as Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher’s The Social Network. He also starred in Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love and Louis Letterier’s Now You See Me. He next appears in The Double and NightMoves.

Irons won the Academy Award for his portrayal of Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune. His work in the film also garnered him a Golden Globe Award. He won an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for his performance in the TV miniseries “Elizabeth I,” opposite Helen Mirren, and recently starred on the small screen as Rodrigo Borgia in Neil Jordan’s highly acclaimed Showtime series “The Borgias,” for which Irons earned a Golden Globe nomination. He was recently nominated for a SAG Award for the PBS Great Performances television miniseries “The Hollow Crown,” for his performance as Henry IV.”

Ah shit, looks like crazy stories be happening again and it honestly makes for some great blogging material. I swear the people working on Superman Vs. Batman are doing this on purpose, just hiring actors to send the internet into a frenzy. First they did it with Ben Affleck, then Gal Gadot and now Jesse Eisenberg, its bloody mental. So let’s start with Irons first and then move onto the bigger casting news surrounding Eisenberg.

So now we have Jeremy Irons as good ol’ Alfred Pennyworth. At first I was not overly jolly about his choice just be cause I wasn’t sure if he had the right look I personally imagined, plus I didn’t think of him as that old. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m okay with it. He is a great and established actor, also at the age of 65 he fits into the role age-wise just fine and while I haven’t seen too many of the films he’s in what I have seen makes me feel like he’s up to the task.

Now let’s move onto the casting news that’s gotten loads of fanboys panties in a twist…

BAM! JESSE EISENBERG AS LEX LUTHOR! CRAZY RIGHT? WHO SAW THAT COMING? ANYONE WHO CLAIMS THAT THEY DID IS LYING! XD

So yeah I read this and I thought I was reading the article wrong, but nope, it’s confirmed and is as real as I am a Sonic-obsessed nerd. Firstly I don’t understand. Of all the people in the world, Eisenberg gets chosen. And don’t misunderstand me, I really like Eisenberg. He was good in Zombieland, brilliant in The social Network and pretty good in Now You See Me. But when I see him I don’t immediately think “Ah yeah Lex Luthor!” I dunno if Eisenberg has the emotional range to carry such an iconic villainous role, plus I can’t see it in his face. Plus Eisenberg as much as I like him he kind of acts the same way in most of his films so that doesn’t give me much hope for a great Lex Luthor interpretation. I’m gonna give the guy a chance because I like him, but damn he’s gonna have a battle on his hands trying to fight off all the haters that wished that it was Heisenberg (Bryan Cranston) and not Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.

So now I pass it onto you lot, what do you think of the casting news? Are you in support of it or do you loathe it with passion! Drop your comments below.

Hello again ladies and gents, well it just seems like there’s news spilling out of the woodwork today as I have an other news story relating to another Marvel Studios film as it seems like the Thor film series will be going into its third entry. The following information comes from superherohype:

“On the heels of yesterday’s news about Captain America: The Winter Soldier helmers Anthony and Joe Russo signing on for Captain America 3 comes word on another Marvel Studios sequel. Marvel announced today that Senior Vice President of Production and Development Craig Kyle will script Thor 3 alongside the returning Christopher Yost (who, with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely scripted Thor: The Dark World from a story by Don Payne and Robert Rodat).

“I am proud of Craig and have enjoyed working with him over these past years,” President of Production Kevin Feige said in a prepared statement. “His creative instincts have helped shape ‘Thor’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World’ at every level of the filmmaking process. The entire team at Marvel is very happy to continue collaborating with Craig as he continues as a screenwriter working with Christopher on the forthcoming chapter of Thor’s adventure.”

Kyle began his career at Marvel Studios in 2001 as the sole Creative Executive for the company’s animation division. In 2003, Craig co-created the character X-23, an adolescent female clone of Marvel’s popular character Wolverine. She was introduced into the comic book mainstream a year later, becoming one of the most popular new characters from Marvel over the last decade. Craig has developed, produced and written numerous animated series and oversaw the development and production of Marvel’s original animated direct-to-DVD projects including Ultimate Avengers: I & II, Invincible Iron Man, Hulk VS, Next Avengers, Doctor Strange, Planet Hulk and Thor: Tales of Asgard. During his many years with Marvel, Craig co-wrote a series of top selling X-Men comics including “New X-Men,” “X-23: Innocence Lost” and “X-Force” (also with Yost). Kyle was promoted to SVP of Production and Development of Marvel Studios’ live-action division five years ago.

Marvel Studios currently has three mystery titles on their schedule: One on July 8, 2016, one on May 6, 2016 and one set for July 8, 2017. Could one of those dates wind up getting filled by Thor 3?”

It was honestly inevitable but I’m still glad that it got announced because Thor needs some closure, ESPECIALLY after the ending of the last film. WE NEED ANSWERS! But other than that I would have hoped that Thor’s film would at least carry into a trilogy, and there are so many more areas of the mythology to take a look at and have even deeper connections to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe too. Now us fans can speculate and just hope that some of our dreams come true like:

Finally introducing other villains like Surtur, The Wrecking Crew or even better gives Enchantress!

Introduce other Asgardians like Hermod (Iove that guy) and Valkyrie.

Give us Ragnarok so we can have the most epic battle of Thor’s life and have some more drama, death and badass fighting!

Just a few suggestions but they would be the best for securing the audiences and the fans in the next instalment especially if it is the last one.

Howdy ladies and gents, time for some Marvel film news and since it has been a little while since the focus was on Paul Rudd in Ant-Man I thought it’d be nice to share this news story with you. The following info comes from ComicBookMovie:

““Well, It’s all just kind of starting, so it’s really cool,” Paul Rudd told Flicks And The City about playing Scott Lang in Marvel’s Ant-Man. “I’m very excited about it. I read some comics and seen some [Marvel] movies and I knew Edgar Wright for many years. The whole thing that it’s actually happened, that I got the part is still kind of surreal. It’s still sinking in over these last several months,” the comedian-actor added, indicating that he was certainly fibbing when he told reporters last month that his involvement was but a rumor. Moving along, when asked how much comedy will he bring to the titular role, Rudd insisted, “We’ll see what Edgar has in mind. We haven’t started shooting any of it yet.” As for his Ant-Man co-star, Michael Dougles, who’s playing Hank Pym, Rudd kept it short and sweet: “It’s a thrill, He’s amazing! Lastly, Flicks And The City slyly asked Rudd how psyched he is to be working again with Rashida Jones, who’s rumored to nab the lead female role in Ant-Man. “I follow what comes out online and even then I don’t quite follow,” he replied with a big grin. “I let those powers at be announce what they want to announce when they announce it. A lot of that stuff you hear is not true.” What do you think?

Anyhow, Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd & Michael Douglas, with Michael Pena & Clifton Collins Jr. rumored for roles. Directed by Edgar Wright from his screenplay, which he co-wrote with Joe Cornish, the film is scheduled for a May shoot in and around Georgia, and releases July 17, 2015.”

So from what I’m reading Rudd seems to have his head in the right place. Him and Edgar Wright seem to be well-acquainted, Rudd has checked out at least a little bit of Marvel’s comic book and film material and he’s not overly sure of the tone of the film because filming has yet to commence. Plus he’s also a bit withheld and coy with his answers so he may very well be hiding stuff from us which is good because I don’t like to know everything too early on thanks to too much speculation.

Hello again people of the internet, just earlier on in the day images from the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was dropped onto the net for the world to see, now it seems like we’re gonna get an even better look as the people over at ComicBookMovie have unleashed a beastly piece of promotional art for us to check out.

You can see the image below:

Seems like we have slightly more expressive turtles in this artwork and it depicts I guess a bit more of their personality traits in the poses and faces. It looks nice to me, the models looked a little cooler, but this work because they still have their turtle look, colours and weapons, plus they look mean and I like that. One could argue that they look a bit too realistic and mean and to a degree I can see that, it is just promo art and that stuff can differ significant from what eventually ends up in the film so we can still just wait for official stills to give us the real thing. however For the longest time I’ve wanted a TMNT film that was good, the first 2 in the 90’s were cool, but that’s it and we haven’t had another decent attempt for years. I just want something that has a bit more grit and seriousness to it and give us NINJAS with cool MARTIAL ARTS and WEAPON fighting, it’s not impossible to do especially with all the fight choreographers and GCI people working in Hollywood today, get it done Paramount!

Howdy people of the interweb, earlier on I saw in a news article something about leaked images from the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot which apparently gave you a more accurate look at the turtles instead of that absurd Halloween costume. I wasn’t gonna blog about this until I saw it circulate around the net like wildfire, so I thought I should give my thoughts.

You can see the images below:

So as you can see above we have what he have look at concept art of Shredder and figure models of Leonardo and Donatello. Now I don’t know if these are real or not but from the sites I’ve read they’re claiming it is from the actual production of the film, so they are apparently legit.

If these really are legit, then damn, what a relief, these actually look pretty badass and could possibly be the best live-action interpretation of the turtles yet. Now I do love the 1980’s/90’s cartoon and appreciate the humorous side of the turtles but I’ve always wanted to see something a bit more serious and this film could be the one to change thing up and it seems like they’ve started with the turtles overall look. The face and body seem a bit more humanoid but in addition to that there’s a bit more gear on them and they look a little tougher and practical with the armour on the legs shoulders and arms. And then there’s the Shredder, simply put he looks badass, I like th design, it is like the original but updated enough to feel new but no ignore the past material. The way things should be done. If either of these images represent what we’re gonna see in the actual live-action film then I will be very happy and take back anything bad I said about this film.

That being said there’s still no official word from the studio or director or Michael Bay regarding the images, so I’m waiting for an official statement.

Howdy ladies and gents, time for some nostalgic chaos! For a while now I’ve been thinking about how badass music is in the world of video games. I mean there are some REALLY good songs/themes/soundtracks that people outside of that realm wouldn’t comprehend. With that in mind I’m gonna start a new series of posts dedicated to some of my favourite tunes in video game history that have touched me personally and I feel like everyone else should hear too. So here we go with part 1:

Streets of Rage

The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis may have been inferior to the SNES with in terms of sound quality but hell it did a frigging good job with some of its titles and Streets of Rage is living proof. Not only was it one of the best beat-em-up games of the 90’s but it also had one oft he best soundtracks too. From the time the game starts with the introduction you’re in for a treat. But it is when you start the first stage when you get treated to some truly awesome sounds with sexy beats and sounds that become instantly classic. It’s like electronic dance music for video games, you could dance to it all. Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 7 and the Stage Boss are personal favourites. I would include music from Streets of Rage 2 but I’m overly familiar with it and didn’t grow up with it, but I have to rate Stage 1-1 (Go Straight), that song is badass!

Favourite song – The Last Soul (Stage 8):

I LOVE THIS SONG! This has and always will be my favourite song, ever since I was a kid this was the song that stood out as it was the one that sounded really final and made you feel like you were nearing the end. It just a nice mixture of doom and coolness rolled into one.

Street Fighter

The SF series is full of incredible music and trying to sing it down to any specific game would be hard as hell considering that there is like 1000 versions of SF after SF2 came out. One thing to note about the series is its music and how amazing it is. That was one of my favourite aspects about playing SF2, it is after all my favourite game in the series. To many songs to choose from including the Opening Theme, Ryu’s Theme, Guile’s Theme, and M Bison’s Theme to name a few.

Favourite song – Ken’s Stage:

Nothing compares to this song for, it has been my favourite SF song since childhood, there is just something about this song that screams cool and sets my fire alight. Besides the epic SF4 version, the SF2: Champion’s Edition on the Mega Drive/Genesis is the one!

Tetris

You may wonder how can you include something as simple and basic as Tetris? Well it is quite simple, because its AWESOME. Even though there’s only 2 really well-known songs I feel the need to highlight them. Type A is classic and I love it ever so much. The dubstep remix is one of the coolest/filthiest things ever and the remix inSuper Smash Bros. Brawlby Yoko Shimomoura sounds so much like Kingdom Hearts that I’m surprised I never realized years ago.

Favourite song – Type B:

Honestly after I came across this song in SSBB there was never a doubt in my mind that this was the definite song from the Tetris series, even though it’s an updated remix it is one of the most gorgeous songs ever. Somehow Masafumi Takada found a way to update a game song and turn into some crazy Mexican festival tune complete with crazy guitars, men shouting in the background and music from the old game too.

Donkey Kong

This is a series that I have a lot of memories with even though I never technically owned any DK game until I got Donkey Kong Country on Virtual Console around 5 years ago. I mainly have memories with that game, DKC has one of the coolest, atmospheric and varied soundtrack of any 16-bit game ever and to deny that is madness. There are many good songs to enjoy from the DKC theme to Simian Segue and then there’s. And there’s the remixes from SSBB including Jungle Level, Jungle Level Ver.2 (crazy) and Bramble Blast to name a few.

Favourite song – DK Island Swing:

This is just my jam yo. When you first start a level and see the environment and experience the gameplay for the first time, it is a beautiful feeling, and this song ushers you into that world with its gorgeous sound with great beats, piano-like notes and cheeky yet melancholy sound. It’s upbeat at first and builds only to then break down into a quiet little tune before cycling around again.

Kirby

This is a series that while it has a dedicated fanbase, seems to be snubbed by the rest of the world of gaming. Maybe because some oft he games are a bit easy or maybe it’s because they can’t handle the cuteness of Kirby. Either way it doesn’t matter. The music is still awesome. Trying to pick an individual song is HARD because there are loads to consider. I do like Green Greens from Super Smash Bros. Melee and I love the remixes of Gourmet Race, Butter Building, The Legendary Air Ride Machine (gorgeous) and Checker Knights from SSBB.

Favourite song – Fountain of Dreams:

While I do love the Green Greens original from Kirby’s Dream Land, this song from Melee is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have known since I was twelve and was one of the few songs that opened my eyes to the genre of classical music.

So there you have it, my first five picks. Tell me if you’re familiar, like or dislike my choices in the comments below. Also if they’re any that you’d like to see in the future let me know. Other than that make sure to come back for some more music madness in the world of video games. Bye bye for now! 😀

Okay peeps, time to drop someone more comic book movie news on ya and this one is on the recently controversial Future Sentinel in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past. As usual the following info comes from superherohype:

“Yesterday, after many hours of waiting, we finally got our first look at the “future Sentinels” in the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past (See gallery viewer below.) Many of you compared the design to the T-1000 from Terminator 2, GORT from The Day the Earth Stood Still, and some even questioned the engineering of the robot. Now we’ve got an explanation for the design and how the robot will function in the film.

Speaking with Empire, production designer John Myhre had this to say about the design:“They’re biomechanical weapons. We had to come up with what would be the ultimate version that could actually, in principle, stop the X-Men. We started with this idea that they were almost made up of magnetic plates slapped over one another, imagining that the plates could contract or grow, so the Sentinel can be skinny to get through a small space or the plates can open up to become a bigger shape. So they have become virtually unstoppable.”“

Interesting response. In truth when I saw the design for the Future Sentinels earlier on today and I thought it looked pretty cool, it is different and very strange, but I’m digging the design and the colour scheme. As for the reason for their existence I buy it. Why? Because too often than not these comic book films never put the heroes up against a really good enemy or an enemy that will take a degree of effort to defeat, so yeah bring on the upgraded Sentinels if it means the X-Men will have an actual challenge. Lay it on me.

Howdy ladies and gents, time to report a little news story surrounding the future of the Captain America film series. The following information comes from superherohype:

“Variety is reporting that Marvel is so pleased with their next film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, that they’ve begun courting co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo to come back to the helm a third “Captain America” film.

Negotiations between the pair and the studio won’t officially begin until after the sequel opens, but the trade reports that Marvel and the Russos are currently putting together an outline for the third film’s story which would see Chris Evans reprise his role of Steve Rogers once again.”

So it’s happening again! First Matt Reeves is set to the direct the next Planet of the Apes and now this. It seems like there is confidence about some of these upcoming films and if this is any indication that Captain America 2 is awesome then I am even more hyped for the film then before. I feel like the Russo brothers have a lot of love and respect for the source material, everything they have said so far tells me that the film will be awesome. I just pray that if they are as good as they are that there is an official story from Marvel and Disney confirming this so it is solidified.

Yo ladies and gents of the internet, time for me to relay onto you some news about the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man 2 film which is sounding really good. The following information comes from superherohype:

“We’re just six days away from The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s new Super Bowl Spot and to further pump up the eager fans, director Marc Webb has some high praise for the upcoming sequel.

Speaking with Total Film, Webb spoke about the giant scale of the film saying, “It’s huge. We’re pushing the levels of effects, the level of action and the emotional capacity of this kid. It’s an aggressive step forward….We throw around the term ‘operatic’ because of the spectacle and the theatre involved, which is pretty epic.There are enormous sets and great set-pieces. But really it’s a very intimate song – this relationship between Peter and Gwen is very delicate and beautiful.”

“Epic” is an appropriate term for the film, which will be the second in a planned four-film series that will further expand to include spin-offs for The Sinister Six and Venom in the coming years.”

Well this sounds good, as much as I dislike The Amazing Spider-Man, I am a Spider-Man fan for life so I can;’t help but feel at least intrigued by another instalment in this film franchise. Slowly I’ve been getting interested in the film especially after the new suit was shown off, but since the first trailer came out I’ve gotten stupidly excited, I want to believe that this film will be the best thing ever and blow every other Spidey film away, but it is a big task to undertake. Marc Webb different blow me away with the first film, but it seems like her has the right ideas. He’s pushing the boundaries and taking things to a new level and that’s definitely what this series needs. I feel like it has the potential to be brilliant and if they balance the character screen time, make sure that the relationship between Peter and Gwen works and gives us action sequences that are grand and memorable then we’re onto a win.

Howdy people of the interweb, and welcome to the 29th edition of my series of blog posts dedicated to some of my favourite songs ever in life. Today I’m gonna continue the phase of my favourite songs from my teenage days with The Raconteurs with ” Steady, As She Goes“.

Ah man this was one of the strangest and yet most addictive songs back when I first came across it and I never forgot it since. Just have a listen to this tune below:

Again I return to 2006 when this song was released and I first heard it while I was on holiday in Canada. Back when I still watched music videos for songs, this song by The Raconteurs came on and what followed was one of the strangest music videos I had ever seen. Sure it was just a bunch of adult men racing in a soap box race with one of the them playing dirty, but it was just bizarre and at the time I didn’t know what was going on, but what I did know was that the song was awesome and never forgot it afterwards and whenever I would sing the chorus it would annoy my sister haha.

So why do I like the song so much? Well from the time the song starts up, the drums are in play, then it hooks you with a lovely bass line, then the guitars and then it all comes together with Jack White’ vocals and then when the song drops and the chorus hits I fall in love. Alternative rock is one of my favourite genres of music ever and this band future cemented that fact with their beautiful instrumentation in this song which is cool and yet aggressive and loud. The lyrics are also are very nice and easy to remember especially that chorus, that along with the music helps craft a song that is instantly nice on the ear and addictive. Plus it also helps that Jack White’s vocals carry the song so well too, I’ve always liked White’s material when he was part of The White Stripes but I never became a fan of his until he formed this band because their sound was more in line with what I liked.

I fell in love with the song, but never started listening to it properly until 2008 when I got into The Raconteurs by listening to both of their albums Broken Boy Solider and Consolers Of The Lonely. with the former being one of my favourite listening experiences of that year. Then I listened to the song on and off until I came to uni and started listening to the band again and got REALLY into them and with that “Steady, As She Goes” became one of those songs I just couldn’t leave without.

So to conclude “Steady, As She Goes” by The Raconteurs is just a badass song with a loud and aggressive presence, but has wonderful lyrics and awesome instruments that make it a song you’ll want to come back to again and again after your first listen. I highly recommend it yo. 🙂

Well that’s another song review done, what do you think of my song choice today? Whatever your thoughts are leave me a comment below and be sure to come back next time for another song review yo! 😀